A woman has claimed that she suffered seven years of pain after her ex-boyfriend farted in her face.
Christine Connell, a travel content creator known as @christinexploring on TikTok, has revealed that she endured chronic sinus infections after the bizarre encounter, which occurred while she was recovering from knee surgery.
According to her, her former partner accidentally passed wind near her face while changing clothes, setting off what she described as a long and painful medical mystery.
“I realised that my ex-boyfriend got the best possible breakup revenge that anyone could ever get,” she said in a video. “I've had a persistent sinus infection ever since he and I stayed in a hotel one night after I had surgery and he farted terribly.”
“I couldn't breathe,” she added. “There's not anything that even compares to that.”
Watch the video below:Connell described how the troubling symptoms, such as facial pain, nasal congestion, and recurring infections, have persisted for years.
Despite consulting four ear, nose, and throat specialists and undergoing multiple tests and scans, the source of her illness remained elusive.
That changed when a culture sample from her nose revealed the presence of Escherichia coli (E. coli), which is a bacterium typically found in the intestines.
“It is E.coli,” she announced in the video, explaining: “You usually don't get E.coli in your sinuses because E.coli is from poop. So I don't know, how does that get in your sinuses unless you have a boyfriend who farts disgustingly and you are forced to inhale it because you are immobile after ankle surgery?”
Safe to say, many viewers were left stunned by the clip. "This is an original experience, I fear," one user said. "Generally, things I hear on the internet no longer shock me. But this did," another chimed in.
A third quipped: "Talk about living rent free on someone's head." A fourth questioned: "Please tell me this is grounds for him to pay you for ALL of your doctors visits and medication."
In a follow-up video shared on the social media platform, Connell explained the incident.
She shared that she had been lying in bed with her ankle elevated when her boyfriend, while undressing, accidentally passed gas in her direction.
“He was not clothed and standing between the two beds,” she said. “His butt was facing me and that is when the fart happened.”
Connell clarified that the act was not intentional: “He was not intending to fart in my face, he was just getting in bed and [my] face happened to be in the path of the fart that was released.”
She speculated that her recovery from surgery might have compromised her immune system, making her more vulnerable to infection. “Maybe in another circumstance, if I had been healthy, it wouldn't have happened,” she said. “And also, when I say it was the worst fart I have ever smelled in my life, I truly mean that.”
While she acknowledged that her experience was “definitely rare,” she noted that “it's actually more common to get pink eye from someone farting in your face".
According to The Sun, medical experts have expressed skepticism about the TikToker's video.
Professor Franklin Joseph, consultant physician and head of Dr Frank’s Clinic, commented: “While it certainly makes for an eye-catching TikTok, the idea of developing a sinus infection from someone passing gas is, scientifically speaking, extremely unlikely.
“E. coli is a type of bacteria that lives naturally in the gut and is commonly passed through contaminated food, water, or direct faecal contact - but not through air in the way flatulence works. The gas itself doesn't carry bacteria,” he explained.
“For E. coli to reach the sinuses, it would need to travel through a direct route, such as via the bloodstream or through contaminated hands or objects coming into contact with the nasal passages - not from breathing in someone’s flatulence in a hotel room,” Professor Joseph said.
“Ultimately, while this story has gone viral for its shock value, it’s not something the average person should be concerned about. You can share a room - or even a bed - with someone and not worry about developing a seven-year sinus infection from their digestive habits,” he added.